New Cabinet in Turkey Mirrors That of Last Premier

Turkey’s prime minister-designate, Ahmet Davutoglu, center, announced a new cabinet on Friday.

Adem Altan / Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By SEBNEM ARSU

August 29, 2014

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s prime minister-designate, Ahmet Davutoglu, announced a new cabinet on Friday that is dominated by holdovers from the administration of his predecessor, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr. Erdogan is now the president and seeking to maintain a grip on power after moving to what until now has been a largely ceremonial office.

Mr. Davutoglu moved swiftly, announcing his cabinet less than a day after receiving the mandate from Mr. Erdogan to form the new government. There were changes to only three cabinet ministries out of 21, while two figures close to Mr. Erdogan were installed as new deputy prime ministers. Mr. Erdogan approved the list without delay.

The continued presence of Mr. Erdogan’s appointees at the head of key ministries like finance, interior, defense and energy left little doubt that the president would retain strong influence over the government, despite constitutional provisions meant to distance the president from engaging in day-to-day politics.

“If I had not known about Mr. Davutoglu, I would have looked at the cabinet list and said it was just another Erdogan government,” said Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Pretty much everyone appointed by Erdogan remains in power, which allows him to be present in the cabinet when he is not actually present.”

When Mr. Erdogan was inaugurated on Thursday, he emphasized his desire for Turkey to join the European Union. Mr. Davutoglu sought to bolster that effort by naming Mevlut Cavusoglu, the current European Union affairs minister, as the new foreign minister.

Before the announcement, there was widespread talk in Turkey that the Foreign Ministry would go to Hakan Fidan, the head of the Turkish intelligence agency. But he was left out of the cabinet, freeing him to remain intensely involved in the peace process with Kurdish rebels in the southeastern part of the country.

Mr. Fidan was assigned by Mr. Erdogan to lead the negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the P.K.K., which has been pushing for autonomy for decades and is regarded as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Mr. Cavusoglu’s experience dealing with European leaders is expected to help him refresh Turkey’s ties with the West, which have been battered in recent years by concerns about Turkey’s commitment to democratic principles. Those concerns have been fueled by the government’s tightening control over the news media, its intimidation of government critics and the brutality shown by the police during civilian protests and demonstrations.

Another challenge facing Mr. Cavusoglu is the growing jihadist threat along Turkey’s borders, where Islamic militants control critical territories in Iraq and northern Syria. Forty-nine Turkish diplomats and consular workers have been held hostage by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for more than two months.

The two new deputy prime ministers are Yalcin Akdogan, an influential adviser to Mr. Erdogan, and Numan Kurtulmus, the former leader of a staunchly Islamist political movement who was personally persuaded by Mr. Erdogan to join his Justice and Development Party last year. Mr. Akdogan especially is expected to act as a bridge between the president and the cabinet.

“We will know about our exact duties once they are allocated in the next cabinet meeting,” Mr. Kurtulmus said on the CNN Turk television network. Speaking of the cabinet as a whole, he said, “The main axis was kept the same as expected — after all, it’s not about a government change, but fulfilling some procedural changes.”

Mr. Davutoglu appeared to address desires for financial stability, notably on the part of foreign investors, by leaving the core of the previous cabinet’s economic team untouched. Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci will remain in their posts.

Mr. Erdogan, who became Turkey’s first popularly elected president in August, has said he plans to continue to play an active political role despite the constitutional provisions that bar the president from campaigning actively or maintaining ties to a political party. He has said he plans to regularly lead cabinet meetings.

Mr. Erdogan’s opponents have expressed concern that his presidency would mean further authoritarianism in Turkish politics.

The Parliament will convene in the first week of September for a vote of confidence on the new cabinet.